Samira Norouznasseri is a graduate of the Art University of Tehran and a distinctive independent voice in short fiction and experimental cinema. Her 2023 short film The Valley of the Wind has screened worldwide at festivals such as the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA) Festival and the Linz International Short Film Festival in Germany.

The search of Samira's home without judicial warrant, and her subsequent transfer to an undisclosed location, raise urgent concerns for Samira's physical safety and wellbeing. The ICFR condemns these actions as an undeniable violation of Samira's human rights, in line with the ongoing campaign of the Islamic Republic regime to silence filmmakers, artists and cultural workers.

The ICFR is equally alarmed by the ongoing detention of theatre actress and poet Sima Anbaei Farimani, held since March in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, denied access to a lawyer and to her family, and facing serious charges she has had no opportunity to contest.

We endorse the position of our colleagues at the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA), who are tracking the full scope of this ongoing crackdown, and we urge all film and cultural institutions to do the same.

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Samira Norouznasseri, Sima Anbaei Farimani, and all detained filmmakers and cultural workers in Iran. We urge the global film community to keep up their support for all our colleagues in Iran.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

Domenico Centrone is an Italian-born filmmaker based between Italy and Brussels, Belgium. Working with hybrid forms of non-fiction storytelling, his films have been shown and awarded at film festivals around the world. His short film War Postmen (co-directed with Alessio Gonnella) premiered at the 2017 Ferrara Internazionale, and in 2020, International Film Festival Rotterdam screened his short films The Memory Atlas and Water and Salt. He studied under the DocNomads program in Belgium and currently teaches at the University of Bari in Puglia, Italy.

Domenico has been part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian convoy attempting to deliver aid to Gaza by land and by sea. Domenico and his fellow activists were detained by the Eastern Libyan authorities (GNS) on May 24, 2026. On June 2nd, they were brought before the Attorney General in Benghazi (Libya), and their illegal detention was extended by 10 more days. They have not been able to contact their families and have been denied the right to legal counsel. This detention and treatment are unlawful and unacceptable.

Domenico's case is not isolated. Several filmmakers, including Greek producer Phaedra Vokali and Australian filmmaker Juliet Lamont, have been detained or mistreated by Israeli authorities for their participation in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Others have received (further) mistreatment upon returning to their native countries. This pattern demands urgent international attention.

We call on the Italian government, international human rights bodies, and the global film community to act now in support of Domenico Centrone and his fellow activists detained in Libya.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

On Monday June 8, the Egyptian courts have extended Omar's pre-trial detention with another 15 days as they are allegedly "investigating" him in the light of the charges levelled at him. At the time of writing, it is still unclear whether he has been granted access to the medical care he urgently requires, nor is it certain that his actual trial will occur within the next 15 days of his extended detention.

We therefore ask the international community to please keep standing with Omar by signing & sharing the petition in your network. Thank you!

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IN SUPPORT OF OMAR SALAH MAREI'S IMMEDIATE RELEASE & MEDICAL CARE
INVITING THE INTERNATIONAL FILM COMMUNITY TO SIGN THE PETITION

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) calls upon film workers, organizations, institutions and individuals around the world to express their support for our colleague Omar Salah Marei, an Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter forcibly held in pretrial detention since 11 May 2026, and denied access to the medical care he urgently needs. More than 100 film workers and institutions have already signed the petition, including Emma Thompson, Laura Poitras, Walter Salles, Mia Hansen-Løve, the Dardenne brothers, Agnieszka Holland, Mohammad Rasoulof, Aki Kaurismäki, Alex Gibney and Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival.

On 11 May 2026, Omar was taken from his home in Cairo by plainclothes security officers without a warrant. During the raid, they seized his laptops, phones, and the scripts for his future projects. He was held incommunicado for six days before being brought before Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution. His detention has since been extended twice, the most recent extension of 15 days following a hearing on 25 May. He remains cut off from his lawyer and his family.

The charge against him is "deliberately spreading false news," based on his social media commentary. This is a profoundly questionable charge, widely recognised as a tool of silencing and intimidation, and one that does not, under any circumstances, justify extended detention, deprivation of legal counsel and family contact, or denial of necessary medical care.

Omar has a thyroid disorder requiring daily medication that must not be interrupted, and is still recovering from major wrist surgery he underwent three months before his arrest. There is no indication that he is receiving any medical care. Read more about Omar, his career and his current situation in our original statement here.

We stand with Omar and with every filmmaker's right to create and to speak freely.

With this petition, we call upon the Egyptian authorities to immediately drop all charges against filmmaker Omar Salah Marei, and most urgently, to grant him access to proper medical care and humane treatment during his detention, as required by Egypt's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Egypt has ratified, and under the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Film colleagues: support Omar Salah Marei now by adding your signature to the petition and sharing it in your own networks.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

On 16 May 2026, after six days of enforced disappearance, Omar Salah Marei was brought before Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution. Prosecutors ordered 15 days of pretrial detention pending investigation in Case No. 3835 of 2026. The charge is “deliberately spreading false news,” based on posts on his social media accounts. He has had no access to his lawyer and no contact with his family throughout — a situation that continues to this day.

Omar’s reappearance before a named authority does not diminish the urgency of this case — it redefines it. The Supreme State Security Prosecution is the most serious prosecutorial track in Egypt. The 15-day detention order is renewable, and the next hearing, on 25 May 2026, will determine whether it is extended. The ICFR calls on the Egyptian authorities to release Omar and drop all charges before that date.

The medical concerns we raised in our original statement remain fully in force. Omar has now spent nine days in detention, incommunicado and cut off from any independent oversight of his conditions. There is no reason to believe he is being allowed access to the daily medication his thyroid condition requires, or to any care for his post-surgical wrist, which was still fragile and in active recovery at the time of his arrest. The ICFR holds the Egyptian authorities fully responsible for his physical wellbeing for as long as he remains in their custody.

The ICFR continues to follow this case closely and will report further developments. Please stay tuned via our social media channels (Instagram / LinkedIn) for ways to support Omar Salah Marei.

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STATEMENT — MAY 15, 2026

EXTREMELY URGENT

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter Omar Salah Marei, our colleague, who has been forcibly disappeared by security forces in plain clothes since the evening of 11 May 2026. Four days after his arrest, his whereabouts remain unknown, no authority has claimed responsibility for his detention, and no reason has been given for it. Most critically, Omar has serious pre-existing medical conditions that require uninterrupted daily care, and there is no indication whatsoever that he is receiving any.

At approximately 7:00 PM on 11 May 2026, a group of security officers in plain clothes raided Omar Salah Marei's apartment in Cairo without presenting a judicial warrant. Omar was at home; his wife, Nora Elsayed, was away. The officers broke down the apartment door and damaged furniture. They seized the cash in the apartment, four laptop computers, two mobile phones, and scripts for future projects. Omar was then taken to an undisclosed location. No information was provided to his family or legal counsel regarding his whereabouts, the charges against him, or the authority responsible for his detention.

Omar has had no contact with the outside world since. On 12 May 2026, his family submitted two official telegrams, one to the Egyptian Minister of Interior, Major General Mahmoud Tawfik, and one to the Public Prosecutor, Counselor Mohamed Shawky Ayad, requesting the immediate disclosure of his whereabouts and calling for an urgent investigation.

Omar Salah Marei is 35 years old, married, an engineer by training who turned to filmmaking through his own drive and initiative, and has established himself as a serious, critical, and responsible contributor to Egypt's independent cinema scene. He has directed short films including Balh (2013) and Glass Window (2015), which screened at multiple local and international festivals, as well as Selfie (2016), made during a workshop at the Luxor African Film Festival and screened at its closing ceremony. He received the Best Director award at the Diva Short Film Festival in 2017, and his screenplay Escape of His Excellency the Important Commando won the Nadine Shams Award for Best Short Film Script at the Cairo International Film Festival in 2017, awarded by a jury headed by renowned Egyptian filmmaker Ali Badrakhan. He has also collaborated on a number of projects with fellow filmmakers, and uses comedy as a vehicle for brave commentary and critique. 

His wife, Nora Elsayed, speaks of him as “an artist and a filmmaker who has always believed in creative freedom and the people’s right to express themselves and to dream,” and adds that what is happening to him “does not only affect one individual; it sends a message of fear and intimidation to all artists and creators.”

Of particular and immediate concern, the medical risks Omar faces in detention are severe. He suffers from a thyroid disorder that requires daily medication which must not be interrupted due to the serious health consequences of doing so. Additionally, approximately three months before his arrest, he sustained a severe wrist injury requiring surgical intervention involving nine screws and two metal plates, leaving it in an extremely fragile condition. He was still in his recovery phase at the time of his detention, undergoing physiotherapy and relying on a medical brace. Continuous medical care is essential to his wellbeing and recovery. We have no indication that he is receiving any care or attention.

The ICFR demands the immediate release of Omar Salah Marei. His detention by an unidentified authority, without stated charges, without access to legal counsel, and without any contact with the outside world is unlawful and must end now. We hold the Egyptian authorities fully responsible for his safety and wellbeing for as long as he remains in their custody, and will continue to follow this case closely, keeping the global film community informed of any developments.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

Since its inception in 2012, the Middle-Eastern Cinema Academy Association has been promoting, screening and producing Kurdish films and filmmakers across the region and elsewhere. Their work involves the annual Amed Film Festival, which pops up in city halls and other locations across southeastern Türkiye, as well as the production of short films and series revolving around Kurdish stories and the Kurdish language.

In recent years, policy changes in Türkiye on a local and federal level have often impeded the work of Aksoy and her colleagues, with last-minute cancellations of screenings and festival editions and difficulties raising funding for new productions. The Association aligns itself with marginalized peoples across Türkiye and elsewhere, and its focus now includes Armenian filmmakers as well as collaborations with Catalonia, among others.

The film Aurora’s Sunrise, which won the Audience Award at the 2023 Movies That Matter Film Festival in The Hague, blends animation and archival footage from a 1919 film in the public domain to shine a light on how Aurora Mardiganian survived Türkiye’s genocide of the Armenians thanks to the compassion shown by ordinary Kurdish and Turkish people. As the filmmaker, Inna Sahakyan, tells us, “Ms. Aksoy has no connection to the production of the film and is being prosecuted simply for her role in the festival application (...) It is heartbreaking to see a cultural worker targeted for sharing a story of survival and resilience.”

The backlash against Rojhilat Aksoy’s and the Association’s decision to screen the film last December is part of a deeply worrying development in which Kurdish and Armenian voices and stories are actively oppressed by the Turkish authorities. Since the start of 2026, the ICFR has received reports of at least four Kurdish filmmakers whose films have been banned from being screened in Türkiye or included in Turkish film festivals.

As our friends at Turkish film association Altyazı Fasikül tell us: “The revival of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code through this case signals a new phase in Turkey's climate of censorship (...) The prosecution of a film specifically for its screening in Diyarbakır points to a deliberate suppression of the cultural and political rights of Kurdish people in Turkey. We are confronted with a systematic effort to block any reckoning with history.” 

Rojhilat Aksoy has rejected the accusations, stating that organizing the public screening was an act protected by freedom of speech and artistic expression, as well as being conducted within the legal framework of cultural and academic discussion. Article 301, the law cited in the indictment, has been used in previous cases involving writers, journalists, artists and scholars whose work touched on sensitive historical topics in Türkiye. Altyazı Fasikül adds that back in 2007, this article even fueled the hatred leading to the murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

The ICFR calls on the Turkish authorities to end their oppressive treatment of Kurdish and Armenian film workers, and stands firmly with Rojhilat Aksoy and her colleagues in their right to freely express themselves and bring any story — Kurdish, Armenian, or otherwise — to audiences near and far. We call on the Turkish authorities, especially the regional authorities of Diyarbakır, to immediately drop all the charges against Rojhilat Aksoy, and for the international film community to stand with her.
 

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

We look with profound dread at what humanity stands to lose when the future of Iranian cinema is killed on the very streets the world first came to care for through the country’s cinema. We acknowledge the tens of artists who have been killed during this period of unrest, including the filmmaker Javad Ganji, whose death is a profound loss to his family, his colleagues, and the artistic community in Iran. They are among the thousands of civilians, artists, journalists and others reportedly murdered by the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests around the country.

Furthermore, we are alarmed by the ongoing detention of tens of artists, including filmmakers currently held by the state, including (per IIFMA's reporting) six of our film colleagues whose names we are permitted to include here:

• Dawood Abbasi, filmmaker;
• Nasrdin Bagherzadeh, actress;
• Melika Malek Mohammadi, assistant director;
• Ghazal Shahi, actress;
• Ghazale Vakili, filmmaker;
• Navid Zarehbin, filmmaker.

This deprivation of liberty lacks any semblance of transparency or due process, leaving ample grounds for grave concerns regarding their safety and physical integrity. This violence is deepened by a systematic effort to dismantle the professional lives of those who remain.

In spite of the Iranian regime's nationwide internet shutdown, we are receiving disconcerting reports on the use of gruelling interrogation and confiscation of property and equipment, as well as continuous threats of imprisonment, as a tool for political pressure. These tactics are being used against a wide range of Iranian filmmakers, including Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam whom the ICFR has been actively campaigning for in recent years. To seize a filmmaker’s tools or their personal property is a deliberate attempt to strip a community of its voice and its capacity to function.

We demand that governments allow safe haven to those Iranian filmmakers who want and need it, and we urge them to spare no effort in the use of diplomacy to help save lives that will shape a better future.

We call on the international film community to raise their voice and stand with our colleagues in Iran—with their demands, and with their dreams of a different, free, and peaceful future. We encourage them to take action by sharing this call via their networks, as well as by signing/sharing the petition already undersigned by thousands of film workers and institutions across our global community.

Iranian filmmakers will never be alone.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

If you can, please sign and spread the petition and support Jung Yoon-suk!

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In the last days of 2025, the ICFR calls upon the global film community to take a stand and sign the petition in support of our Korean colleague Jung Yoon-suk. As reported in our original campaign, Jung Yoon-suk sought to document the civil riots outside Seoul's Western District Court last January, as is his custom as a documentary filmmaker - but in the eyes of the Korean court, this has been deemed "aggravated trespassing". Jung Yoon-suk and his legal team are appealing the original verdict and the one-year prison sentence now requested by prosecutors; the new judgment will be delivered on December 24.

Jung Yoon-suk's case has been drawing the attention of the Korean and international film industry. Earlier this year, the Korean cultural sector spoke strongly in support of their colleague, citing a fear that such a sentencing would form a dangerous precedent for the status of filmmakers and artists attempting to document the country's lived realities. The petition at the time was signed by a wide range of cultural figures and institutions, including director Park Chan-wook, the Association of Korean Independent Film & Video (KIFV), and the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

Jung Yoon-suk and his legal team are currently appealing the unjust conviction handed down at first instance last summer, in which he was sentenced to a fine of 2 million KRW, despite the absence of any thorough investigation or interview. At the appellate hearing, prosecutors requested a one-year prison sentence for Jung Yoon-suk. On December 24, the court will reach its new verdict.

According to Jung Yoon-suk's legal team, the court ruling this summer claimed that filming the civil riots "did not constitute a 'justifiable act'", and went on to state that "an artist, unlike the press, does not serve the public interest". As part of their appeal, which asserts that there is an error in the application of the law in Jung Yoon-suk's case, the legal team goes on to share with the ICFR that "to the best of our knowledge, there has been no precedent in South Korea [that] a documentary filmmaker has been ultimately convicted and punished for filming the assemblies [of civilian protesters]".

Jung Yoon-suk's films have revolved around such real-life topics as the Zijonpa clan case. His debut feature, Non-Fiction Diary, was invited to screen at the Berlinale International Film Festival. From 2013-2017, Jung Yoon-suk was blacklisted and surveilled by the Park Geun-hye administration's National Intelligence Services for his incisive, socially engaged activities. Despite this authoritarian pressure, Jung Yoon-suk managed to finish his film Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno, which went on to premiere at the 2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

The ICFR continues to stand with Jung Yoon-suk and launches an urgent petition campaign in his support leading up to the December 24 appeal trial. We encourage the global film community to follow the example of the Korean cultural sector and express their support for Jung Yoon-suk through signing, sharing and promoting the petition campaign with urgency.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

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The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) stands in full support of the Georgian (Kartveli) documentary filmmaker Giorgi Mrevlishvili, sentenced to seven days in detention for taking part in his country’s ongoing civic protests. The ICFR calls on the global film community to speak out in solidarity with Giorgi Mrevlishvili, and urges the authorities of Georgia to immediately and unconditionally release him and drop all administrative charges.

On October 30, 2025, Giorgi Mrevlishvili was detained by police while taking his child to a doctor. According to reports by the Documentary Association Georgia (DOCA), he was arrested under administrative charges for allegedly blocking Rustaveli Avenue, where daily demonstrations have been taking place since the government’s turn away from the country’s European course. Under a newly introduced law, such participation can lead to short-term imprisonment. Soon after his arrest, Giorgi was sentenced to seven days of detention.

As an answer to the government turning its back on EU accession and democratic values, demonstrators have been gathering in front of the Parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, blocking the road. The practice of freedom of assembly has become almost the only remaining form of civil expression, as government and public institutions, including the courts and public broadcaster, have been centralized and brought under direct control of the Georgian Dream party, led by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.

However, the situation extends beyond Giorgi’s individual case. It signals a growing risk to filmmakers, journalists, and citizens whose work or civic engagement brings them into contact with these protests. Until recently, people identified as “road blockers” were fined approximately €1,800. With the aim of dispersing the protest movement, Parliament has made the law significantly stricter: as of October 19, those participating in demonstrations that block roads face up to 15 days in prison under administrative charges. Repeat offences are now treated as criminal cases, carrying sentences of up to one year in jail.

The film community in Georgia expects that more filmmakers may face similar persecution, whether because of their filmmaking practice or their civil activism, and recognizes the urgent need to prepare for this escalating pressure.

Giorgi Mrevlishvili is a Kartveli documentary filmmaker and the director of National Exams, 12 Lessons, Zurabi, and other works. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and has been documenting the public protests unfolding in Georgia in recent months. Those who know Giorgi describe him as a peaceful, principled, and compassionate artist, devoted to truth-telling and civic engagement. His detention represents a serious threat to freedom of expression and to the safety of filmmakers documenting public life in Georgia.

The ICFR stands with Giorgi Mrevlishvili, and joins Documentary Association Georgia (DOCA), as well as the European Film Academy (EFA) and the International Documentary Association (IDA), in urgently appealing to the Georgian authorities to release him and uphold the rights of artists to observe, record, and participate in public life without fear or intimidation.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

Jung Yoon-suk is a documentary filmmaker who has spent the past two decades documenting his country’s political turmoil and public grief. His films have revolved around such real-life topics as the the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster and the deadly crowd crush in Itaewon on Hallowe’en, 2022. His 2014 film Non-Fiction Diary, on South Korea’s late-1980s transition from a military-led society to a democracy, won many plaudits around the world, including the Netpac Award at that year’s Berlinale. His 2017 film Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno screened at a.o. International Film Festival Rotterdam. From 2013-2017, Jung Yoon-suk was blacklisted and surveilled by the Park Geun-hye administration’s National Intelligence Services for his incisive, socially engaged activities.

On January 19 of this year, Jung Yoon-suk tried to document the riots unfolding outside Seoul’s Western District Court, in the wake of the country’s political upheaval and temporary martial law earlier that winter. Despite documenting alongside other journalists, Jung Yoon-suk was singled out and arrested with rioters, and his current court procedure, which is taking place without any interview conducted or any evidence provided, levels the accusation of “trespassing and burglary of a special building” against him. Some of Jung Yoon-suk’s footage was shown in broadcaster JTBC’s documentary 12 Days of Civil War earlier this year.

This August 1, Seoul’s Western District Court will finalize their sentencing of Jung Yoon-suk; despite his requests, he has been denied a jury trial as well as the possibility of appeal. Without any thorough investigation or interview, felony charges have been leveled at Jung Yoon-suk and treating him as a criminal.

The ICFR stands with Jung Yoon-suk and joins the Association of Korean Independent Film & Video (KIFV), the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and other colleagues in South Korea in the urgent appeal to the Korean authorities to drop all the charges and release Jung Yoon-suk to immediate safety. We strongly urge our film colleagues around the world to make themselves heard in support of Jung Yoon-suk; as he himself said in his own closing statement earlier this month: “In a democratic society, artists serve as the watchdogs of history (...) For an artist, expression is not merely a matter of freedom; it is a matter of human rights, guaranteeing our dignity and our rights as human beings.” 

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

On March 30th, Iranian filmmakers Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha have been sentenced by Iran's Revolutionary Court to a (suspended) prison sentence of more than two years, as well as hefty monetary fines, for their film My Favourite Cake. Despite a large outcry in their support both internationally and within Iran, the judge has not ruled in favor of the filmmaking team, although their prison sentences are suspended for five years as of the time of writing.

As Maryam and Behtash have communicated via their social media, the verdict includes the following:

• 14 months of discretionary imprisonment (suspended for 5 years) for "propaganda against the Islamic Republic through dissemination of false information intended to disturb public opinion", for Maryam & Behtash;
• 1 year of discretionary imprisonment (suspended for 5 years) for "participation in the production of obscene content", for Maryam and Behtash;
• Monetary fines amounting to 800 million IRR (approx. 17,000 EUR), as well as confiscation of film equipment, for "screening and distributing the film without an official exhibition license"
• Monetary fines for three other members of cast/crew.

The Directors Guild of Iran has condemned the verdict, stating, “The conviction of a film made with official permission from the Cinema Organization and internationally acclaimed does not help solve cinema’s problems, but signals concerning treatment of independent works.”

Last month, the ICFR instigated a large petition campaign, together with the international co-producers and distributors of My Favourite Cake, in support of Maryam & Behtash, which led to more than 18,000 signatures from all over the world - including such film luminaries as Pedro Almodóvar, Juliette Binoche, Hiam Abbass, Ali Abbasi and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, as well as film instutions such as the film festivals of Rotterdam, Venice, Berlin, Sydney, IDFA and Movies That Matter. The global outcry was quickly noticed by trade publications (Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety) as well as The New York Times. Organizations such as the Swedish Film Directors' union and the Berlinale, have publicly stated their support for the filmmakers as well.

The filmmaking team believes that the public international and Iranian support for their case has positively impacted their court proceedings, and they encourage every one to keep standing with them as they currently consult with their lawyers to decide on the best path forward. The ICFR continues to monitor and be in close contact with the filmmakers as they seek the best options for them, with the current suspended prison sentences hanging in the balance.

This should not, however, stop the rest of us from continuing our vocal and visible support for their situation. The ICFR thanks each and every supporter for their commitment to the fates of our Iranian colleagues, and we continue to demand that the Iranian authorities drop all their charges against the filmmakers and release them back into society — and back to a life in which they can travel freely and make the films that are true to them, as every filmmaker should be able to do.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

Navid has served a little over one year of his original 3,5-year sentence, a punishment in response to his having made an unreleased documentary about the “Women/Life/Freedom”-movement. His refusal to collaborate with the authorities against feminist activist Masih Alinejad led to his sentence being executed. Last December, Navid was temporarily released on parole, before being returned to prison after only a few days, leading to much stress, confusion and uncertainty for Navid and his loved ones.

The family's ceaseless efforts to get Navid pardoned by the authorities, aided by the support of the Iranian and international film industry (including a solidarity presentation of Navid's film Café at this year's IMPACTE! Human Rights Film Festival of Catalunya, in Barcelona), have now finally resulted in Navid being released from prison and having the rest of his sentence pardoned.

The ICFR team congratulates Navid and his family on this long-overdue resolution; we hope that Navid, as well as his Iranian colleague film workers, will be spared such ordeals in the future as they make the films they need to make. We wish Navid a good process of recovery and healing, back towards the life he chooses to live.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

Hamdan Ballal is a Palestinian filmmaker, photographer and human rights activist from Susiya, in the Masafer Yatta region in the West Bank, the region depicted in the film he co-directed between 2019 and 2023 with fellow Palestinian Basel Adra and Israeli co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, No Other Land.

The documentary, about the resilience of the Palestinian people of Masafer Yatta in the face of constant violence from Israeli settlers seeking to displace them, has been a major critical success and a topic of much debate around the world. Among many other accolades, the filmmaking team won the Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 2025 Oscars.

On Monday March 24, Hamdan Ballal was surrounded and attacked by fifteen Israeli settlers in his home town of Susiya in Masafer Yatta. With police and army forces idly standing by, the attackers assaulted both Ballal and his property, leaving him bleeding after severe blows to his head and stomach. As his co-director Yuval Abraham has reported via social media, Ballal was lifted from the ambulance by the Israeli army and forcefully taken into custody in an undisclosed location, where he was blindfolded, beaten and mistreated even further.

Over the course of March 25, the intervention of Ballal's lawyer has fortunately resulted in his release; Ballal is currently undergoing serious medical care for the physical traumas that the Israeli settlers and army have inflicted on him. It is as of yet unclear whether he will continue to be prosecuted by the Israeli state. This is not the first attack on the filmmaking team behind No Other Land: just last February, Palestinian co-director Basel Adra also found himself surrounded and assaulted by masked Israelis, and the violence against the filmmakers and the Masafer Yatta region has only increased since their success at the Academy Awards.

As Julie Trébault, Executive Director of the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), has stated, "This blatant effort to silence Palestinian voices, especially those who speak truth through art, cannot go unchecked. We are relieved to see Hamdan Ballal released from custody, but urgently call on the Israeli authorities to guarantee his protection and hold the perpetrators to account."

This violence all occurs within the bigger framework of Israel's continued war on Gaza, the West Bank and the Palestinians, which this week alone has resulted in the killing of even more (video)journalists, including 23-year-old Hossam Shabat, bringing the total number of killed journalists in Gaza to 225. It also led to the forceful arrest and detaining of Palestinian filmmaker Abdallah Motan this past winter.

Due in part to the absence of international attention for Abdallah Motan's situation, he has been incarcerated first in the notorious Gush Etzion incarceration facility near Hebron, where he was refused access to legal representation for months. He is now been moved to the Ofer Prison near Ramallah, where his lawyer can visit him but where Motan still has not been allowed a visit from his loved ones. Motan's current legal representation has recently confirmed that, despite it all, Motan is in relatively good health and spirits, even though his chances for release are highly uncertain at present; after his current six-month detention period, he and his lawyer will appeal to try and avoid an extension of his incarceration.

The ICFR joins the global film community, including our partners the European Film Academy, Artist at Risk Connection and the International Documentary Association, in our unwavering support for Hamdan Ballal as well as for Abdallah Motan. We call upon the Israeli authorities to drop all possible charges against Hamdan Ballal, and release Abdallah Motan and any other unjustly detained Palestinian immediately and unconditionally.

Additionally, we encourage you to take direct action by signing this petition started in Hamdan Ballal's support.

This is a developing story; updates will be distributed via our website and social media.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

The 57-year-old filmmaker, journalist and broadcaster has been a visible figure in Afghanistan's film and media industry for more than two decades, most recently as the managing director of the independent media organization Anar Media. Sayed Rahim Saidi has previously been a member of the state-run Afghan Film Organization (AFO), before it was taken over by the Taliban in 2021, whose de facto regime has drastically altered the course and purpose of the organization.

Saidi, who has never left his home country, has been known for his short and longer-form documentaries on social change, non-discrimination, and particularly the Taliban's treatment of Afghanistan's female population. On July 14, 2024, Saidi was arbitrarily arrested by the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), allegedly because Saidi had been working on a screenplay regarding an Afghan girl being denied access to education by the Taliban's de facto regime's current laws disproportionately targeting girls and women.

As Amnesty International reports, Saidi was kept in solitary confinement for three months after his initial arrest, and denied access to a lawyer when his case was finally presented to Kabul's First Court on December 18, 2024. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in the Pol-e-Charkhi Prison on account of "spreading propaganda against the Taliban". Throughout the process, and ever since his incarceration, he has been continuously denied access to healthcare and his medication, needed to treat his continuously worsening health issues (lumbar disc herniation and prostate issues).

The ICFR joins Amnesty International and the international human rights community in calling upon the Taliban's regime to provide Sayed Rahim Saidi with the healthcare he requires, as well as his immediate and unconditional release. We urge our colleagues across the global film industry to join us in supporting our colleague in Afghanistan, in particular by contributing to the letter-writing campaign set up by our colleagues at Amnesty. It is a straightforward and easy process that will hopefully have a profound and positive impact on the life, health and freedom of our colleague Sayed Rahim Saidi.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) reiterates its unequivocal support for Iranian filmmakers Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha, currently awaiting the start of their trial with Iran's Revolutionary Court this March 1. The charges levelled against them concern the production and distribution of their Berlinale-winning film, My Favourite Cake, currently in theatres and on VOD platforms across the world.

Ever since 2023, when the authorities first raided the offices of their film's editor, Moghadam and Sanaeeha have been under continuous scrutiny of the Iranian regime. Their film, My Favourite Cake, celebrates the romantic and intimate needs of an older-generation Iranian woman — and therefore defies many of the Islamic Republic's strict and strongly enforced ideas about a woman's role and visibility in society. Initially, the government's persecution efforts led to a travel ban for the directors, which meant they could not attend their film's world premiere at the 2024 Berlinale in person.

At the time, a statement on their behalf was read at the Berlinale. The statement included Moghadam & Sanaeeha's ethical and directorial vision, saying, "We have come to believe that it is no longer possible to tell the story of an Iranian woman while obeying strict laws such as the mandatory hijab. Women for whom the red lines prevent the depiction of their true lives, as full human beings. This time, we decided to cross all of the restrictive red lines, and accept the consequences of our choice to paint a real picture of Iranian women – images that have been banned in Iranian cinema ever since the Islamic Revolution." Read their full statement right here.

The film's continued success, including Berlinale's FIPRESCI and Ecumenical Jury prizes as well as festival and theatrical releases across the world, has not lessened the Iranian government's condemnation of Moghadam & Sanaeeha's actions. After a long string of interrogations at the Evin Security Prosecutor's Office, they are now expected in court on March 1 on allegations of "propaganda against the regime", "production, distribution and duplication of a film with obscene content", "offending public decency and morality" and "screening the film without obtaining a screening/distribution license". The court sessions will be conducted under the presidency of Judge Iman Afshari, who was also recently involved in sentencing Mohammed Rasoulof to eight years imprisonment.

The ICFR calls on the Iranian government to immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha, and restore their freedom to live, to move, and to make the films they need to make. We urge our colleagues across the globe — especially those currently attending the Berlinale and the European Film Market (EFM) — to amplify our call, to share this campaign in support our Iranian colleagues, and to sign and share this petition addressed to the Iranian authorities to drop all charges now.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

30-year-old Abdallah Motan is a film director, DOP and photographer from Ramallah, who has worked on documentary films in his own country as well as internationally. He has particularly strong ties with Italy, where he spent eighteen months in Naples for a journalistic internship. He is scheduled to return to Italy in February this year, to participate in the 21st edition of the AI Ard Film Festival organized by the Sardinia-Palestine Friendship Association.

In addition to his film work, Abdallah Motan has been involved in organising local film workshops, such as one in the Palestinian village Al-Zubaidat, situated in the Jordan Valley in the eastern West Bank. The aim of this training was to enable inspiring local young men and women to deal with the simple tools of documentation and editing, with the aim of documenting and expressing their day-to-day experiences.

This last Monday January 13, Motan was arrested by the Israeli authorities as he tried to travel to Jordan and further onwards to Dubai. He has been given so-called administrative detention, which means a six-month imprisonment (at least) without trial or concrete charges. He is currently held in the Gush Etzion incarceration facility near Hebron, a detention center recently in the news for massive outbreaks of food poisoning and torture of minors.

Abdallah Motan is among at least 43 film workers and journalists currently imprisoned by the Israeli authorities, in an attempt to silence coverage of the war on Gaza, according to the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists). The current surge of arrests in the West Bank is occurring during the recently implemented ceasefire, temporarily halting Israel's war on Gaza and facilitating the exchange of Palestinian and Israeli captives.

The ICFR joins Motan’s family in calling upon the Israeli authorities to release Abdallah Motan immediately and drop all the charges levelled against him. We encourage all our colleagues across the global film industry to join us in supporting our colleague Abdallah Motan, as well as our fellow film workers at severe risk in places of war and conflict around the world.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

The news is part of a broader amnesty on the part of Myanmar's current ruling military junta, to mark the 77th anniversary of Myanmar's independence from British colonial rule. On January 5th, the military junta released more than 6,000 inmates, only a small percentage of whom were political prisoners. In that category, Shin Daewe's sentence shortening is in line with the fates of 143 other prisoners who have now seen their life sentences reduced to fifteen years of incarceration.

Shin Daewe's sentence is the result of a closed trial of a military tribunal, all revolving around her possession of a filming drone common to documentary filmmaker. According to the military regime, this violated their counter-terrorism laws and was accordingly punished with a lifetime prison sentence on 10 January 2024. More context on Shin Daewe's filmmaking career and current situation can be read here.

Deeply worried about her health and well-being, the ICFR stands with Shin Daewe and call on the Myanmar authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Shin Daewe. We continue to encourage all film and cultural colleagues around the world to do the same, and invite them to share the link to her film NOW I AM 13 wherever possible. Contact us for more information.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

Chen Pinlin's documentary in question, Urumqi Middle Road (乌鲁木齐中路, also known internationally as Not the Foreign Force), revolves around the "White Paper Movement", a nationwide series of peaceful protests in 2022. These protests responded to all the rolling lockdowns under China's zero-COVID policy, as well as to the harsh environment of surveillance and censorship in China. Shared (often under his pseudonym "Plato") on YouTube and X, both of which are banned in China, the film's sensitive and outspoken content includes the brutal police crackdown on what ended up being the larges wave of citizen protest since the Tiananmen Square events back in 1989.

Reporters Without Borders' Cédric Alviani, the organization's Asia-Pacific Bureau director, comments on Chen Pinlin's sentence: "Documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin was only serving the public interest by documenting historic protests against censorship and abuses by the Chinese regime. By branding him a troublemaker, Beijing demonstrates its utter contempt for the right to information."

As both Reporters Without Borders and the Human Rights Research Center point out, Chen Pinlin's arrest and sentence are clearly part of a bigger effort of the Chinese authorities to stifle the voices and stories of filmmakers, journalists and press freedom defenders across the board. As the ICFR reported last fall, Uyghur filmmaker Ikram Nurmehmet has also been sentenced by China to a long prison sentence, in his case for his film studies abroad in Turkey. They are among at least 124 film workers, journalists and press freedom defenders currently detained in the country.

We encourage all our colleagues across the global film industry to join us in supporting Chen Pinlin, and call upon the Chinese authorities to release the documentary filmmaker immediately and unconditionally.

In addition to distributing this call in your own networks, we also encourage you to join Amnesty International's writing campaign in Chen Pinlin's support; read more right here.

Lastly, Chen Pinlin's documentary Urumqi Middle Road can be watched on YouTube via this link. We encourage those in charge of film (festival) programming to include the film, if at all fitting and possible, in your public programs.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

A director, screenwriter and assistant director since 1999, Navid Mihandoust had to face unfounded charges in 2021 regarding a documentary about Iranian journalist and women's rights activisit Masih Alinejad's professional life — a documentary that remains unreleased to this day. Over the course of 2024, it became clear that Navid's current prison sentence stems from a false accusation that he was working on a film about Iran's anti-hijab movement among young women. Navid then refused to cooperate with Iran's intelligence services when asked to contact Alinejad under the pretense of making a new documentary about women's rights in Iran.

Speaking about Navid's character, his sister, Neda Mihandoust, has said, "He believes that as a filmmaker, he has a duty to society - to be the voice of the people and to highlight the problems within his society through his work. Despite having the chance to leave Iran, Navid chose to stay."

Navid's staunch refusal to support the state's plot against women's rights activism resulted in the execution of his prison sentence, in the notoriously harsh Evin Prison. The ICFR joins Navid's family in expressing deep concern for Navid's health and well-being in the current mentally torturous process of finalizing, or cancelling, his release on parole. We continue to stand with Navid, and call on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Navid Mihandoust.

We encourage our colleagues across the global film industry to amplify our call, and keep up visibility for Navid's situation, for example by screening Café, the film he made in 2023 while anxiously awaiting whether or not his prison sentence would be executed, at your festivals and institutions. Feel free to contact us directly for more information.

International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

According to sources closer to the trial, Nurmehmet’s case is based on a false confession that was forced out of him under torture, as he was held captive by the authorities in a dark room for twenty days straight. The ICFR strongly condemns the treatment and proceedings of the authorities, and calls on the Chinese government to release Ikram Nurmehmet immediately.

The core of the accusations against Ikram is the time he spent in Turkey, between 2010-2016, as a student of film at Marmara University in Istanbul. Returning to China upon graduation, he went on to become a prolific director of commercials and short films. His 2020 film, Elephant in the Car, about two Uyghur men and a Han Chinese woman sharing a cab and driving around Beijing at night, was nominated for the Golden Firebird Award at that year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The Chinese authorities have now used Ikram’s study abroad time as the pretense for their persecution of the 33-year-old filmmaker, starting with having him surrender his passport in 2018. The government’s bewildering treatment of Ikram, leading up to his eventual arrest in 2023, has been documented by several international newspapers, including Der Spiegel.

Says Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch: “More than seven years after the Chinese government began its abusive ‘Strike Hard Campaign’* in Xinjiang, the authorities continue to prosecute young Uyghurs like Ikram Nurmehmet on politically motivated charges. Ikram Nurmehmet and the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs who have been wrongfully imprisoned should be immediately freed.”

Ikram Nurmehmet is currently being held in Ürümqi No. 1 Detention Center, along with four other Uyghurs that he has been sentenced along with. The ICFR urgently calls on the international film industry to raise visibility for our Uyghur colleague, and help amplify our demands on the Chinese authorities to release and stop persecuting Ikram Nurmehmet, so that he may go back to sharing his and the Uyghur community’s stories through his films.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk

* _{The ‘Strike Hard Campaign’ particularly targeted Uyghurs and other Turkic citizens of Xinjiang by making “foreign ties” to a list of 26 “sensitive” countries, including Turkey and other Muslim majority nations, a punishable offense.} 

Çiğdem Mater is a Turkish film producer and journalist. Since 2010 she has produced multiple Turkish documentaries and feature films such as MAJORITY (2010) and SIVAS (2014, Best Youth Feature Film Award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards). She also worked as local producer for international projects shot in Turkey such as Ai Weiwei’s HUMAN FLOW, Eric Baudlaire’s AKA and Muhammed Ben Attia’s WELDI. She is the founding co-ordinator for the Armenia Turkey Cinema Platform which supports co-production between Turkey and Armenia.

Çiğdem Mater is one of 13 high-profile academics and cultural workers who were initially arrested by the Turkish police in 2018. This was in a crackdown against people and organisations connected to the 2013 Gezi Park protests. While they were later released, the Turkish government alleges that those involved in the protests sought to overthrow the government of then Prime Minister, now President Erdogan. At the forefront of these accusations was prominent philanthropist Osman Kavala, who has been in prison without a conviction since 2017. Initially, the court in Istanbul cleared Kaval of espionage charges but found him guilty of attempting to overthrow the government amid mass protests in Gezi Park in 2013. Kavala denies allegations that he financed the anti-government protests.

Çiğdem Mater returned to Turkey from Germany on 15 February and attended the hearings of the Gezi Park Case. The court arrested her, saying ‘there is a suspicion of escape’. Mater’s lawyer Hürrem Sönmez said that his client was in Germany as part of a project but returned to the country to attend the hearings. On Monday, 25 April 2022, Çiğdem Mater was among seven defendants connected to Kavala who were sentenced to 18 years in prison for ‘aiding his crime’.

Mater said in her defense: “I participated in the Gezi Park protests as an activist to protect the park, and as a filmmaker. I haven’t made a film about this, as argued in the indictment, but I could have. This is something we must be discussing not in courtrooms, but in movie theatres.”

Such an extreme sentence does not only violate the rights of Ms. Mater and her colleagues, but furthermore, it is a flagrant threat to freedom of expression as it seeks to silence all filmmakers and artists through fear. ICFR calls on the Turkish authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Çiğdem Mater and her colleagues and we encourage all film and culture institutions around the world to do the same.